On Wednesday, four men who were fired from the papaya farms at Fruta Bomba in Corozal visited us complaining that they had been terminated because they were unionizing and asking for better salaries. They showed us a termination letter stating that the reason they were fired because they were planning a strike. Today, we spoke to General Manager of Fruta Bomba Gilberto Vivas who says, simply put, the letter was poorly worded.
Gilberto Vivas, Fruta Bomba
"We are conscious that they came to get a raise of $0.50 cents, we try to negotiate with them. We spoke to our vice president of operations in the U.S. and they agreed that we should speak with them. We spoke to them and everybody agreed that at the end of the year we would make adjustments, even on bonuses and the increments but there were a couple persons that were in agreement with that and they were trying to cause disturbances in our compound with the other workers so we had to terminate them."
Alfonso Noble,
The letter says that they were terminated because they were planning a strike.
Gilberto Vivas,
"That was a mistake on a supervisor's part. At no time did we think they were going to do any strike. The reason they were fired is because they were trying to instigate and they were trying to cause disturbance with the other workers and they said everybody should stop work if they didn't get the raise immediately. We had already negotiated with them that the increase was going to come at the end of the year but we cannot stop operations in this company because we are depending on the sale of fruits and profits of the company."
Alfonso Noble,
I know you don't have a union but if management were approached by a union of workers here would they respect them?
Gilberto Vivas,
"We have never talked about that. Upper management from the U.S. can answer that question better, I cannot, but I cannot tell it if will be allowed or if it will not be allowed."
Alfonso Noble,
So it is not a consideration that has passed through your desk at given point in time?
Gilberto Vivas,
"Has never gone through my desk as yet."
Alfonso Noble,
Because of the incident with these four workers having been fired and they claim because they were trying to unionize and to get support from the larger base of workers is this a consideration that Fruta Bomba will have to be making now?
Gilberto Vivas,
"I cannot really answer that question, it has to come from my boss from the U.S."
The men who were fired maintain that they only wanted to start a union to agitate for a modestly higher hourly rate. Fruta Bomba is owned by a U.S. company called Brooks Tropicals.
